Wireless telephones are becoming increasingly common. Wireless telephones include both cellular telephones and wireline telephones having a base station and a wireless handset. In a cellular system the wireless operation is what makes the entire system possible. In the wireline system, the ability of the telephone to operate without a wire connected to the handset is a significant convenience to the user.
In both cellular and wireline systems, the wireless receiver must typically be manually placed into an off-hook position in order to place a call or answer an incoming call. For example, the user removes a wired line handset for its base or presses a button. The need to press a button can be an inconvenience to the user. In poor light, a user may not be able to see the keys and may have difficulty pressing the correct key. A user may not have both hands free, and it may be inconvenient in such a case for a user to both hold the handset and press a button to set the telephone to an off-hook condition. In each case it may be more convenient for the user to set the telephone to an off-hook condition by moving or disturbing the handset, without the necessity to make a precise motion needed to select and press a particular button.
There exists, therefore, a need in the art for a wireless telephone handset which can be set to an off-hook condition by movement of the handset particularly when the handset is not in a charging cradle. Such operation has the benefit of being familiar to users of standard wired telephones which are offhook whenever the handset is picked up.